Horangi

Tanahashi vs KENTA at Nagoya could easily be made into a number 1 contenders match. I guess Ishii v EVIL could also be made into one as I think they're the only other top-ish guys not on the Dome besides Suzuki. Is it known why New Japan doesn't work with other promotions? You'd think while they can't really bring over AEW or foreign talent as easily it'd be a no-brainer to stimulate interest. Even if it isn't at the Dome, Takagi v Kento or Kiyomiya or even a big rival from his DG days (YAMATO maybe? Not super familiar with DG since 2008) should generate buzz than say Takagi vs EVIL or SANADA presently.

Completely agree, pull him and have either Okada or Tanahashi challenge him in Osaka for the Dome, still enough time to change it. Maybe Tanahashi so Shingo can avenge the February loss.

Long post maybe, so my apologies (what can I say, I am passionate about NJPW and have been for nearly 20 years). New Japan certainly has problems, but I don't think it is as bad as some people are making it out to be. The matches are definitely too long, the Dangerous Tekkers/LIJ tag title match would have been much better if 5-10 minutes were shaved off (and I still think it was a great match!) but we also need to take into account why matches are too long. New Japan isn't running 8-10 match cards like other promotions as their way of being COVID responsible (from what I understand, could be wrong). They certainly could run a young lion match and a veteran match to make a 7 match card which would help reduce main event match times, but I can't see that happening until probably 2022. Despite this, I do think New Japan's top level matches are up there with the best matches this year (i.e. Shingo v Cobb, Shingo v Tanahashi, Okada v Ospreay, Ospreay v ZSJ). While the booking has problems, I do appreciate the attempt to elevate some new guys to the top in the past 12 months (EVIL, Ospreay, Shingo). EVIL fell flat and I do agree he would have been served better either in Suzuki-gun (who are missing a top level singles guy - Suzuki, ZSJ and Taichi are credible but are not on that top tier) or in his own group, which I kind of feel was the original idea..but again COVID left Bullet Club with no leaders and no idea when they could be back. I wont comment on Ospreay as a personal choice, but his matches with Shingo, Okada and ZSJ this year are some of the best this year. The Takagi rise is an opportunity for a lot of fresh top level matches, as long as they don't panic and switch back to Ibushi. There are other positives too recently, the Young Lion challenge series produced some really good matches, O-Khan has really stepped up in his major singles matches (Tanahashi, Naito etc) and the NEVER 6-Man matches have been a real highlight. Dangerous Tekkers/GOD at Korakuen might be my favourite tag match of the year (I don't watch WWE or AEW so I don't have a broad scope however). I really like EVIL, I think he has a number of upsides that unfortunately his current position doesn't highlight. He SHOULD be a relentless ass kicker, not a cowardly heel relying on Dick Togo, and his 2021 booking has made it very hard for him to recover (not writing him off yet, but he's got a mountain to climb). I'm not as high as SANADA, something doesn't connect with me to him. He is a good wrestler, but I don't look forward to seeing him if that makes sense. I am fine with the Dangerous Tekkers being plugged in the GOD place in the tag division - they are super entertaining and matches are generally good, but I am admittedly super biased as a massive ZSJ & Taichi fan. Anyway I am very much looking forward to Wrestle Grand Slam. Having seen how much work Robbie has put in the last 8-9 months (and I loved him wearing a Velocities shirt in his challenge, super underrated Aussie team that everyone should check out), I'm really excited to see him in a featured match. I don't think he wins, but then again Australia just cut its returnee arrivals in half so he might be there a while, so there is a possibility. I still think Despe wins as I think either ELP or Hiromu take it from him, but Robbie certainly would be an interesting and fresh option for the Junior division. Phew that was a lot...thank you to anyone that does actually read through all of that and I hope it made sense.

Card is set for the Dome, spoilers below for anyone catching up on the last few shows:

People should really check out the NEVER 6 man, a lot of fun, EVIL finally looked like he had some spark back and Togo still has the goods! Really looking forward to the Chaos vs 3rd Gen match (and the Ishii v Nagata and Goto v Kojima set up matches on the first) as well as what looked like the seeds to a Ishii v EVIL match down the line. The young lion vs vet matches from the last two shows were great too. Definitely recommend Ibushi v Uemura, Taichi v Uemura and Zack v Tsuji.

I'm all for Jake just dominating Miyahara, Aoyagi then sneaking a quick win and getting a big Jake v Aoyagi decider. In other news and not having to rely on my dodgy Japanese to translate, another forbidden door opens! SHO will take on Takanori Ito at next week's GLEAT show. Hoping we can see some GLEAT guys in New Japan, I'm a huge Minoru Tanaka fan and would love to see him have one more run there with a big list of fresh opponents.

Triple Crown to be decided on the 26th with a three way between Jake, Miyahara and Aoyagi. I really hope they pull the trigger on Jake this time, otherwise they run the risk of Goto-ing him

The NJPW collection stuff isn't really a sign I think. All the Ospreay/Cobb cards unavailable are the pre-United Empire ones (Cobb does have a UE 3 star in circulation currently), they did the same to EVIL when he switched to Bullet Club. All of Jay White's cards became sold out after Wrestle Kingdom when those WWE rumours circulated, none of the newer cards have re-entered circulation yet (anything after G1 last year hasn't come back into circulation yet). I'm too addicted to the app I think -_-

Ospreay sustained some kind of neck injury during the Shingo match, he has returned to the UK for rehabilitation. Consequently, the IWGP World Title has been vacated. New Japan can't catch a break at the moment.

I have a top 3 of my favourite live matches: 1. Hiromu Takahashi vs Will Ospreay - Wrestling Kingdom 2020 1/4/20. I've said it before, but being a massive Hiromu fan, being there for his big stage return win was super emotional. Most will remember Okada/Ibushi from that night, but this was the highlight of my trip for me. 2. Kento Miyahara vs Jake Lee - AJPW 5/1/20. I bailed on a trip to Fuji Q with my friends for this and don't regret it at all. This turned me back onto AJPW and into a big Jake Lee fan. Awesome match, unfortunately All Japan hasn't been able to live up to thsi high for me since but I certainly understand the COVID world hasn't made things easy. 3. Gino Gambino vs Robbie Eagles MCW 5/10/18. This is the match that got me into the Australian scene. I had been to a few events after hearing about the infamous Ospreay matches against Eagles and Brooksy but nothing hooked me completely until this, great crowd and atmosphere at the Thornberry helped. Beats out Eagles/Ospreay at Southern Showdown as my Aussie match on this list.

First night was a lot of fun, enjoyed Aoyagi/Otani the most.

Similarly to Gordy, my scope is quite limited to NJPW, some AJPW and Australian Indies, but this is the list of my top 10 given that context. No real order to it besides number 1 though. 1. Hiromu Takahashi - my vote for best of 2020 (so many great matches with Ospreay, Ishii, Despy, Lee, Eagles to name just a few) and looked to be carrying that into 2021 until another unfortunate injury. So charismatic and unique, if he was a bit taller and a heavyweight I think NJPW would have their new ace (and they still might) 2. Hiroshi Tanahashi - Go Ace! I don't think he'll ever fall off my top 10, Tanahashi got me back into wrestling in 2012 after a few years off. He was the first Japanese wrestled I ever really hot into back in 2003. Hoping he has a great NEVER title run, looking good so far. 3. Shingo Takagi - maybe the best in-ring wrestler in New Japan at the moment (sorry Ishii!), would love to see him go the next step but fear he'll fill the Ishii role. 4. El Desperado - Super under rated finally getting some of the spotlight. Don't care what Meltzer or anyone else says, the BoSJ final was my match of the year, the unmasking part was boss. 5. Jake Lee - Only guy keeping me invested in All Japan, really hoping they pull the trigger on him soon or they'll risk Goto-ing him. Would actually love to see him mix it up with some of the New Japan guys sometime. 6. Jeff Cobb - Cobb is a beast! Been a huge fan of him since Lucha Underground. Tour of the Islands is my favourite move too. 7. Slex - it's hard to rate the Aussie scene after being switched off for so long. Slex is one of the guys I think has all the tools to make it big somewhere (signed to RoH at the moment). The recent matches with Brooks and Moretti are worth looking at, as well as his 2019/2020 feuds with Brooksy and Gino Gambino. 8. Dangerous Tekkers - My favourite tag team, love their chemistry and their feud with Golden Aces gave the IWGP tag belts some credibility and focus. Hope they win them back soon. 9. Robbie Eagles - A highlight of the Sydney scene, had a great BoSJ (besides the Wato match). Still get goosebumps from the 2.9 count from his match with Gino. Hope he can get back to Japan again soon, but stay away from the Empire. 10. Ritchie Taylor - Probably better Aussie options but Ritchie is a local Melbourne guy who gives it everything no matter if it's a big MCW show or infront of 50 people in Geelong. Really good match with Tommy Knight from the first DMDU show is in the matches thread and his stuff with DCT in MCW is worth checking out. Not to mention probably the nicest guy in Aussie wrestling. It was hard cutting that down to 10, apologies for the long post!

Henare tweeted himself on a plane indicating he's heading back to NZ, could very well be a ruse though. If Henare is back in NZ (quarantine makes it impossible to be him), Robbie is booked in Aus, difficult entry for 90% of the world unless having resident status (or a visa if from countries still allowed like Australia or NZ), the match itself indicates it'd be a heavyweight, who is left? Umino? Gabe?

Have been enjoying most of the cup matches so far, the last few nights I do think the mains could could shaved 5 minutes or so off. Definitely agree there was no need for a 25 minute epic White/Henare match (yet).

Besides the mess that was the tag title match, I really enjoyed the show. Surely a case can be made for Hiromu being top 5-10 wrestlers in the world at the moment.

Hmmm I definitely liked it more than the Ibushi dome matches, but I'd need to rewatch the Shingo/Cobb match to make a fair call. I'm leaning towards Shingo/Cobb as I kinda prefer the NEVER 15-20 minute wars. Shingo/Tana was very much a New Japan epic main event and awesome in its own right though.

Hiromu v Ospreay definitely ranks as my favourite WK match, not sure if I'd say it is the best (need to rewatch some of the above) but for me it is my number 1. Honourable mentions to Nakamura v Ibushi and Nakamura v Sakuraba...I miss NJPW Nakamura.

Haven't been to a huge amount of shows, but these are the 3 that are the most special for me so far: Wrestle Kingdom 2020 Night 1: My first Wrestle Kingdom, I had attended random New Japan cards including the Australian tours and that Power Struggle that had Okada v Anderson in the main, but I was so emotionally invested in this one, especially the Hiromu return match. Went with a bunch of friends from home which made it more special. MCW Clash of the Titans 2019: In terms of wrestling, I'd say i had been to better MCW shows (i.e. November Rain with Okada, the one with Gambino/Eagles), but being a huge Slex fan and finally seeing him top Gambino was huge. Being front row my friend and I also got into the post match celebrations which was really cool. Some random Korean Indy in Incheon in 2016: I THINK it was a PLA show but I can't confirm, the wrestling was so indy sleaze, the venue had crap aircon and it was so humid inside, probably around 50 people in the crowd, but what made this one special was that they never really had many foreigners attend their show and I got to go drink with the owner and some of the wrestlers after. Despite the language barrier, it was my first real interaction outside a show with any wrestlers so I'll always have this as one of my best wrestling shows.

Kind of looking forward to Kohei Sato in All Japan, but that's me remembering him from around 2005/06 and haven't seen anything since...how is he these days? Hope Kento and Yuma win the tag titles, but am pulling for Suwama for the Triple Crown, only because I still have a faint hope Jake will finally get the big win.

Probably the best night so far last night, I enjoyed everything, with the main event, SHO/Robbie and Despy/Uemura really standing out to me. Not that I'm happy Kanemaru missed due to injury, but like last year with Narita, the fiery young lion matches are so much fun to watch. I'm a huge Eagles fan, but the Robbie Robbie Robbie chant made me cringe. Please stop. I don't think he is turning either...how far off is YOH from returning? He could be one i could see maybe joining The Empire. I really hope that's last we see of Taguchi's ass...

Knew Robbie would be in based on a tweet by his wife. Happy for him though, fully expect him to join Ospreay's crew

With BoSJ around the corner, I think he'll get a junior in his ranks. Robbie Eagles is the obvious one here, but he sucks as a heel. Also I don't know if he'd even go over at this point and potentially be away from his family for months or if he could even get a travel exemption to leave Australia (Aus citizens can't leave without a government approved exemption and while a goalkeeper signing for a Danish 2nd division club got one, I dunno if a pro wrestler would).

Was this the one that Meltzer said Tanahashi was definitely winning and then New Japan said he had no idea? If it is, then I'm with you as everyone was so sure Tana was instead so it was a good shock that Okada retained.

God damn, Ishii and Taichi do pull out the best out of each other, definitely right up there as one of my favourite matches of the tournament. White/Cobb was a lot of fun too, White made Cobb look like a million bucks.